Indian Railways has issued a contract to Russian company JSC Metrowagonmash-Mytischi (TMH) for manufacturing 120 Vande Bharat trains with a sleeper facility, The Times of India reported.

In a joint venture (JV) with RVNL, TMH will make these trains at a facility in Latur.

Additionally, Indian Railways is said to have notified the Russian company that the work order also includes an option to increase the order to 200 trains, according to the news agency.

In addition to the TMH-RVNL JV, Indian Railways sent a counteroffer to another JV, Titagarh-BHEL, for the manufacture of 80 Vande Bharat trains.

Both JVs participated in the bidding process for producing Vande Bharat trains. However, TMH-RVNL emerged as the lowest bidder, who quoted Rs1.2bn ($14.5m) per rake while Titagarh-BHEL made a quote of Rs1.4bn ($17m) per rake.

The two JVs said that they received the orders and will soon communicate with the railways, according to the news agency.

The Vande Bharat train with sleeper facility will feature one First AC coach, three Second AC coaches and 11 Third AC coaches.

Earlier this month, Tata Steel signed an agreement with Indian Railways to manufacture coaches and seats for Vande Bharat Express trains.

Under the contract, Tatga agreed to make seats for First AC and Three-tier coaches.

It also agreed to manufacture Linke Hofmann Busch (LHB) coaches for the indigenous-high-speeded trains.